Sports Officials Committee
UIL Panel Hears First-Hand Accounts
Of Pandemic’s Impact on ISD Budgets
The severe and immediate impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on Texas ISD budgets permeated discussion and action taken during the UIL Sports Officials Committee’s (SOC) virtual meeting on May 12
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Other Coronavirus News
- TEA’s updated graduation mandates — Just after we went to press last week (TEN, May 11), the TEA announced revisions in the requirements for schools to hold graduation ceremonies.
The primary updated change allows
outdoor in-person ceremonies to occur anytime in rural counties meeting specific criteria starting May 15, but changes the start date for allowing all districts to hold graduations outdoors to May 29 (instead of June 1). - School calendars — The TEA released (May 7) — see these PowerPoint and pdf documents — possible changes to next year’s school calendars that would start school in early August (about a two weeks earlier than the mandated start date in law), a change that would require ISDs to become Districts of Innovation.
One of the sample calendars shows classes starting in early August and ending in late June, with longer-than-normal “intersessional” breaks — to allow for the remediation of students, via remote learning or staggered in-person attendance.
The TEA is also encouraging districts to make use of a HB3 provision that provides funding for up to 30 additional instructional days for grades for PK to 5.
The TEA is not mandating that districts chose a particular calendar model.
- Speech pathology initiative — The TEA announced (May 11) its partnership with AmplioSpeech, described as a leading provider of speech pathology technology, to reach 10,000 Texas students with special education needs.
The collaboration is a response to the COVID-19-related shutdown of school campuses statewide and equips school districts with digital speech and language therapy programs, which ensures that students needing such services are receiving them via at-home learning.
- “Operation Connectivity” — The governor, TEA and Dallas ISD jointly launched (May 8) “Operation Connectivity” a new statewide program that started in DISD that is designed to deliver Internet connectivity and device solutions for school districts, families and students statewide.
A task force will gather information to determine which Texas students do not have Internet access and/or home devices, identify sources of funding, and perform other assigned tasks with the goal of connecting more students to available technology resources they can access from their homes.
- Virtual schools — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick this month released a 113-page final report by the “Texans Back to Work Task Force” he appointed that includes several school-related recommendations.
The report recommends, among other things, starting school earlier in August (when practical) and expanding the
Texas School Virtual Network (TxSVN) to include all grades, instead of excluding grades K-2, and expanding the TxSVN course offerings.Meanwhile, the
Coalition for Public Schools — consisting of more than 40 pro-Texas public education associations — sent a letter to the education commissioner this month opposing proposals that have been made to expand the TxSVN.Without naming Patrick’s report, the coalition’s letter, among other things, cites a lack of capacity by TxSVN to handle a surge in public school students.
The letter also notes that many students lack access to high-speed Internet at home and cited data showing that students enrolled in full-time virtual schools do not perform as well as students in traditional schools or schools that employ a blended online/in-person instructional model.